Vocational  Advisement 
and  Placement 


BY 


ARNOLD  LEVITAS 

Instructor  of  Typography  at  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York 
and  Stuyvesant  Evening  Trade  School 


1920 

The  Mount  Hope  School  Press 
New  York  City 


(P? 


Mount  Hope  School  Press 


Vocational  Advisement 
and  Placement 

BY  ARNOLD  LEVITAS 

THE  United  States  Goverment  is  today  confront- 
ed with  no  greater  obligation  than  that  of  ad- 
justing the  unusual  conditions  created  by  the 
war  with  regard  to  many  of  the  men  who  are  now 
returning  from  the  battle-fronts  of  Europe. 

By  far  the  most  important  task  will  be  that  of 
developing  to  usefulness  the  men  who  have  in  some 
way  been  handicapped  by  the  loss  of  hands,  or  feet, 
or  hearing,  or  sight. 

After  these  men  will  have  been  put  into  physical 
shape  and  be  sufficiently  strong  to  take  up  some  kind 
of  work,  the  Government  aims  to  give  them  a  train- 
ing which  will  prepare  them  for  some  useful  occupa- 
tion— so  that  it  may  not  be  necessary  for  them  to 
become  a  burden  to  the  community  and  to  subsist  on 
charity. 

It  is  a  well-established  fact  that  only  a  very  small 
percentage  of  the  men  so  maimed  could  not  be  re- 
claimed to  a  certain  amount  of  usefulness.  While  it 
may  not  be  possible  to  train  a  handicapped  man  to 
regain  his  full  powers,  it  is  quite  probable  that  many 
of  them  will  lose  only  a  certain  percentage  of  their 


efficiency  after  they  will  have  received  the  training 
contemplated  by  the  Government. 

Besides  the  training-school  for  these  men,  it  will 
also  be  necessary  to  establish  a  bureau  which  will  deal 
with  the  vocational  advisement  and  placement  of  the 
disabled  soldier  and  sailor.  Such  a  bureau  will  de- 
termine the  capabilities  of  the  applicant  from  various 
viewpoints  and  his  fitness  for  certain  work. 

It  will  be  necessary,  first  of  all,  to  ascertain  the 
candidate's  general  qualifications.  If  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  some  industrial  or  commercial  pursuit  pre- 
vious to  his  enlistment,  it  might  be  possible  to  have 
him  adapt  himself  to  the  same  or  some  other  branch 
of  his  previous  occupation.  Where  this  is  not  possible 
—on  account  of  his  peculiar  handicap  or  general  un- 
fitness  for  that  kind  of  work— it  might  be  well  to  try 
him  for  some  other  kind  of  activity. 

To  keep  the  man  to  the  work  in  which  he  has 
previously  been  engaged,  or  even  in  some  other 
branch  of  the  same  industry,  would,  of  course,  be 
most  advantageous  all  round.  It  might  minimize  the 
efforts  in  his  training;  it  would  tend  to  keep  from 
overcrowding  other  trades;  and  it  would  not  interfere 
with  the  rules  and  regulations  of  existing  trades  un- 
ions. Necessity,  however,  should  not  be  set  aside  by 
any  other  factor,  and  the  best  interests  of  the  can- 
didate in  question  should  be  the  most  important  con- 
dition to  consider. 

Every  man  appearing  before  the  bureau  officials 
is  presumed  to  possess  certain  qualifications.  To 
these  should  be  added  his  previous  training  and  ex- 
perience. These  may  be  called  his  assets.  From 
these  assets  we  are  to  deduct  his  liabilities— which 
will  be,  first  of  all,  in  the  form  of  his  physical 
handicap,  created  by  the  ravages  of  the  war,  and, 
secondly,  by  certain  deficiencies  of  his  own. 


The  bureau  for  advisement  and  placement,  com- 
posed of  men  possessing  the  proper  experience  and 
qualifications,  will  be  able— through  a  thorough  ex- 
amination—to establish  the  status  of  the  candidate. 
When,  after  carefully  weighing  all  conditions  regard- 
ing the  candidate,  this  is  sufficiently  established,  the 
man  should  be  recommended  for  a  certain  kind  of 
training. 

The  second  task,  then,  of  this  bureau  would 
be  to  cooperate  with  the  training-schools  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  advise  the  authorities  of  those  schools 
of  the  kind  of  training  to  be  given  to  each  one  of  the 
candidates.  If,  on  report  of  the  officials  of  the  train- 
ing-schools, some  candidate  does  not  show  any  prom- 
ise of  ability  in  certain  directions,  he  may  be  tried- 
after  another  examination  by  the  above  bureau— in 
some  other  field  of  endeavor.  The  first  few  weeks 
of  his  training  in  any  particular  work  should  be  re- 
garded simply  as  an  experiment;  and,  if  the  candi- 
date shows  adaptability  for  his  work,  his  training  may 
then  be  approved  by.  the  bureau  and  he  may  be  permit- 
ted to  continue  until  completion. 

Under  these  circumstances,  a  man  will  be  given 
every  possible  opportunity  to  find  himself  in  the  par- 
Yicular  work  for  which  he  is  best  fitted.  In  fact, 
this  vocational  guidance  should  prove  sVbe'neficial  as 
to  neutralize  some  of  the  deficiencies  created  by  the 
maimed  condition  of  the  body. 

'Another  task  of  this  bureau  would  be  to  negoti- 
ate with  many  of  the  industrial  and  commercial  estab- 
lishments of  the  country  regarding  the  employment 
of  these  men,  who  are  to  be  trained  for  useful  work 
in  these  various  establishments.  It  would  be  well  to 
get  the  advice  of  the  heads  of  these  firms  with  regard 
to  their  particular  wants  in  the  laber  market,  so  that 
the  men  may  be  trained  on  practical  lines  and  that 


they  may  fit  into  the  plans  of  these  industrial  con* 
cerns.  . 

It  stands  to  reason  that,  in  order  to  get  the  best 
results,  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  into  considera- 
tion the  fact  that  these  handicapped  men  cannot  be 
made  as  useful  as  others  who  are  physically  sound. 
Therefore,  the  matter  of  compensation  should  be  so 
arranged  as  to  result  beneficially  to  employer  as 
well  as  employee. 

It  may,  however,  be  well  to  note  that  in  many 
cases  the  physical  handicap  will  create  only  a  neg- 
ligible depreciation  in  the  man's  ability;  and,  consider- 
ing the  good  effects  produced  by  proper  vocational 
guidance  and  training,  there  should  be  little,  if  any, 
change  in  such  cases  from  the  usual  compensation 
for  the  work. 

In  negotiating  with  the  buyers  of  labor,  it  should 
be  kept  in  mind  that  the  main  object  of  the  bureau 
will  be  to  create  a  place  for  usefulness  for  the  maimed 
men,  and,  therefore,  we  must  eliminate  any  ele- 
ment which  might  seem  like  charity  or  favoritism. 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
allow  for  a  certain  amount  of  independence  on  the  part 
of  the  handicapped  employee— such,  for  instance,  as 
would  make  him  feel  that  his  usefulness  will  not  end 
with  his  severance  of  employment  in  the  particular 
establishment  where  he  was  first  placed  by  the  bureau, 
or  that,  in  holding  his  job,  he  does  so  because  of 
his  value  to  the  employer  and  not  because  the  em- 
ployer is  actuated  by  patriotism  or  sympathy. 

Heretofore,  employers  of  labor  have  generally 
been  dealing  with  men  physically  sound,  and  have 
paid  wages  which  called  for  100  per  cent  of  efficien- 
cy. Since,  under  these  new  circumstances,  it  will 
rarely  be  possible  to  attain  100  per  cent  of  efficiency, 
in  the  strict  interpretation  of  that  term,  we  have  a  new 


problem  before  us.  Employers  will  have  to  be  con- 
vinced that  in  employing  these  handicapped  men  they 
will  not  suffer  financially  or  commercially,. and  ways 
will  have  to  be  found  where  such  men  may  actually 
prove  their  value  beyond  any  doubt. 

That  it  is  possible  to  make  these  men  valuable  to 
employers  of  labor  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
illustration,  where  one  of  the  useful  trades  (the  print- 
ing trade)  is  analyzed  for  the  particular  purpose. 

We  may  divide  the  printing  trade  into  17  .diffe- 
rent phases  of  activity,  and  examine  how  these  handi- 
capped men  may  be  employed  in  the  various  branch- 
es and  their  percentile  loss  of  efficiency  in  each. 

*PERCENTILE  LOSS  OF  EFFICIENCY  IN  PRINTING  TRADE 
DUE  TO  LOSS  OF  LIMBS,  HEARING,  OR  SIGHT 


PRINTING 
OCCUPATIONAL  BRANCH 

1 

BLIND 

DEAF 

ONE 
ARM 

ONE 
LEG 

LEG-!- 

LESS 

Estimator.. 

50 

25 

50 

2 

10 

Layout-Man. 

100 

10 

50 

2 

10 

Job-Compositor 

100 

5 

75 

5 

25 

Proofreader. 

100 

10 

2 

2 

2 

Stone-  Hand  

100 

2 

100 

25 

100 

Foreman  Comp.osing-Room... 
Foreman  Press-Room 

100 
100 

10 
15 

10 
50 

1 

1 

50 
50 

Machine-Operator  

100 

5 

75 

10 

20 

Platen  Pressman  . 

100 

10 

60 

90 

100 

Cylinder  Pressman. 

100 

10 

60 

90 

100 

Web  Pressman  

100 

10 

100 

90 

100 

Printing  Salesman 

75 

5 

5 

5 

100 

Proprietor.                         v 

50 

1 

10 

2 

10 

Compositor  (Straight)  
Feeder  (Platen) 

100 
100 

2 
2 

75 
100 

5 

10 

10 
25 

Feeder  (Cylinder)  

100 

2 

85 

5 

25 

Paper-Cutter  

100 

2 

100 

20 

100 

Average  Loss  of  Efficiency.... 
Average  Value  to  Trade  

93 

7 

7 
93 

60i 

394 

25 

75 

50 
50 

*Table  prepared  by  F.  K.Phillips,  of  American  Type  Founders  Company 

5 


It  may  be  worth  while,  as  a  matter  of  illustration, 
which  may  also  be  useful  as  a  specimen  for  other 
trades,  to  explain  the  various  elemental  branches  of 
the  printing  trade,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  table, 
and  their  possible  use  for  the  purpose  in  question. 

Estimator 

1.  Work  consists  of  figuring  costs  of  materials 
and  time  and  furnishing  prices  of  printing.     Loss  of 
efficiency  due  to  loss  of  one  arm,  one  leg,  or  even  both 
legs,  is  comparatively  slight. 

Layout-Man 

2.  Work  consists  of  planning  jobs  and  advertise- 
ments.   Ability  to  write,  draw,  and  design  is  neces- 
sary. Not  required  to  stand  or  move  around  in  search 
of  materials.    Loss  of  efficiency  due  to  loss  of  one  leg, 
or  even  both  legs,  comparatively  slight. 

Job  Compositor 

3.  Work  consists  of  setting  type  of  various  sizes 
and  faces.    Requires  considerable  moving  around. 
Loss  of  efficency  due  to  deafness  or  loss  of  one  leg 
almost  negligible.   Loss  of  one  arm  or  both  legs  would 
almost  incapacitate  a  man  for  this  work. 
Proofreader 

4.  Work  consists  of  detecting  errors  in  the  prod- 
uct of  printers.     Requires  thorough  grounding  in 
essentials  of  grammar,  spelling,  and  structural  En- 
glish.    Does  not  require  moving  around.    Loss  of 
efficiency  due  to  deafness  is  considerable,  as  proof- 
reader requires  a  copyholder  to  read  to  him  from 
copy  for  his  comparison  with  proof.    Loss  of  one  arm, 
one  leg,  or  both  legs  would  decrease  efficiency  only 
slightly. 

Stoneman 

5.  Makes  up  and  locks  up  forms  of  type.    Re- 
quires much  standing  and  moving  around.      This 

6 


work  could  be  done  by  a  deaf  person  or  one  who 
has  lost  one  leg.  Could  not  be  useful  if  a  man  has 
lost  sight,  one  arm,  or  both  legs. 

Foreman  of  Composing-Room 

6.  Work  is  supervisory  in  character.    Could  be 
done  by  deaf,  one-armed,  one-legged,  or  legless  person. 

Foreman  of  Press-Room 

7.  Work  is  supervisory  in  character.    It  could  be 
done  by  deaf,  one-legged,  legless,  or  one-armed  man. 

Machine  Operator 

8.  Work   is    similiar    to   operating  typewriter. 
Workman  is  enabled  to  sit  down.    Work  could  be 
done  dy  deaf,  one-legged,  or  legless  man. 

Platen  Pressman 

9.  Work  consists  of  making  ready  jobs  on  small 
presses.    Workman  required  to  stand  and  use  both 
hands.    Could  be  done  by  deaf  or  one-legged  person. 

Cylinder  or  Automatic  Pressman 

10.  Work  consists  of  making  ready  on  cylinder 
or  automatic  presses.  Deaf  person  could  do  the 
work,  but  with  a  loss  of  a  certain  amount  of  efficiency. 
Great  skill  required.  Workman  required  to  stand 
and  use  both  hands. 

Web  Pressman 

11.  Work  consists  of  operating  newspaper  press- 
es. Deaf  person  could  do  the  work,  but  with  a 
loss  of  efficiency.  Loss  of  sight  or  one  limb  would 
prohibit  doing  work  of  this  character. 

Printing  Salesman 

12.  Work  consists  of  soliciting  printing  business 
and  submitting  estimates.  Could  be  done  by  a  per- 
son with  loss  of  hearing,  one  arm,  or  one  leg. 


Proprietor 

13.  Executive  work.     Could  be  done  by  a  person 
with  loss  of  hearing,  one  arm,  one  leg,  or  both  legs. 

Straight-Matter  Compositor 

14.  Work  consists  of  setting  plain  matter,  usually 
on   country   newspaper.    Deafness  or   loss  of   one 
leg  would  not  lower  efficiency.    Loss  of  both  legs 
would  not  materially  reduce  capacity  for  production, 
but  would  reduce  efficiency,  owing  to  necessity  of 
requiring  assistance  in  moving  about. 

Feeder  on  Platen  Press 

15.  Work  consists  of  placing  sheets  of  paper 
in  press  and  removing  same  after  they  are  printed. 
Requires  both  arms  and  hands.    Deafness  or  loss  of 
one  leg  would  not  decrease  efficiency.    Loss  of  both 
legs  would  reduce  efficiency,  owing  to  necessity  of 
assistance  in  moving  to  and  from  press. 

Feeder  on  Cylinder  Press 

16.  Work  requires  skill  in  placing  large  sheets 
of  paper  to  guides  previous  to  printing.    Deafness 
or  loss  of.  one  leg  would  not  decrease  efficiency. 
Loss  of  right  arm  would  prove  a  hindrance,  but 
work  could  be  done  if  left  arm  is  retained.    Loss  of 
both  legs  would  decrease  efficiency  to  a  great  extent, 
unless  a  seat  attached  to  press  (which  could  easily  be 
done)  were  provided. 

Paper-Cutter 

17.  This  work  requires  the  cutting  of  paper  on 
either  hand-lever  or  power  paper-cutter.    Both  hands 
are  required.    Deafness  would  decrease  efficiency. 
Loss  of  one  leg  would  decrease  efficiency  slightly. 
Loss  of  both  legs  would  incapacitate. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  enumeration  that  the 
printing  trade,  like  many  other  trades,  has  a  great 


deal  to  offer  in  the  proposed  reconstruction  work 
which  the  Government  is  to  take  up. 

It  might  be  added  that  some  of  the  branches  of 
the  trade  here  enumerated  have  been  taught  in  some 
of  the  schools  of  the  country.  They  have  been 
taught,  in  most  cases,  as  supplementary  to  the  regu- 
lar training  in  the  shop.  It  has  been  firmly  established, 
however,  that  the  subjects  could  be  taught  with  suc- 
cess and  be  made  to  be  of  positive  benefit  to  the  stu- 
dent. 

Almost  all  other  trades  may  be  arranged  in  the 
same  way  as  the  printing  trade  for  the  practical  pur- 
poses of  teaching  the  crippled  soldiers  and  sailors. 

In  order  to  get  the  most  beneficial. results,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  employ  experts  of  every  trade  taught 
—not  only  in  the  training-school,  but  also  in  the 
bureau  which  is  to  take  up  the  vocational  advisement 
and  placement  of  these  men* 

If  an  industrial  survey  were  made  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discovering  the  best  opportunities  for 
cripples  in  the  industrial  field,  it  would  help  to  sys- 
tematize the  trades  into  branches  of  activity  and 
show  in  what  particular  branches  these  disabled 
men  could  best  be  used. 

This  industrial  survey  may  include  visits  to  the 
factories,  manufacturers'  associations,  trade  unions, 
and  editors  of  trade  journals.  Valuable  information 
may  be  had  from  all  these  sources,  and  may  be  ap- 
plied to  good  advantage. 

If  the  placement  officer  were  to  come  to  the  em* 
ployer  with  a  systematized  arrangment  similar  to 
the  one  arranged  for  the  printing  trade,  it  wculd  be 
a  good  deal  easier  to  convince  him  of  the  value  of  the 
trained  cripple  for  the  work  in  his  establishment. 

The  duties  of  the  bureau,  however,  should  not 
be  considered  as  finished  with  the  placing  of  the  man. 

9 


It  would  be  necessary,  for  some  time,  at  least,  to  fol- 
low up  the  fortunes  of  these  people.  In  most  cases, 
these  men  may  become  sufficiently  independent  not 
to  require  any  further  protection;  but  there  may  be 
expected  certain  cases  where  men  will  have  to  be 
taken  care  of  for  some  time  after  they  have  received 
their  first  job. 

It  is  quite  possible  that,  after  a  disabled  man  has 
been  trained  and  placed,  he  will  not  be  able,  because 
of  his  handicap,  to  earn  the  normal  wage  necessary 
for  his  maintenance.  In  a  case  of  this  nature,  it  would 
be  necessary  for  the  bureau  to  recommend  certain 
adjustment  to  be  made  by  the  Government  which  will 
keep  the  man  from  want. 

Although  this  matter  of  charity  is  something 
from  which  we  desire  to  get  away,  we  must  realize 
that,  probably  in  a  small  percentage  of  cases,that  will 
come  into  calculation.  It  is  unavoidable.  The  bureau 
will  be  trying  to  help  all  the  men  to  help  themselves; 
and,  so  far  as  it  will  succeed  in  this,  it  will  be  of  ma- 
terial benefit. 

But  where  this  will  not  be  altogether  possible,  it 
would  clearly  be  within  the  province  and  the  duty 
Government  to  help  to  take  care  of  these  men  who 
sacrificed  their  efficiency  in  its  service.  Besides,'  it 
would  be  to  the  interest  of  the  Government  to  kee-p 
these  men  from  becoming  public  charges. 

Vocational  guidance  of  this  kind  should  result 
in  time  in  the  solving  of  this  great  problem  confronting 
this  country  and  should  gradually  tend  to  eliminate  the 
detriments  to  the  individual  and  to  the  community 
created  by  the  war. 

It  is  also  hoped  that  this  vocational  guidance, 
which  has  come  as  a  dire  necessity,  will  in  time  de- 
velop for  general  uses— so  that  this  work,  which  is 
contemplated  to  relieve  a  temporary  condition,  may 

10 


show  its  lasting  and  permanent  benefits  on  a  much 
larger  scale.  For,  it  stands  to  reason  that,  if  people 
generally  were  to  choose  the  occupation  best  fitted 
for  them— which  is  now  rarely  the  case— they  would 
not  only  benefit  themselves  but  also  the  community 
at  large. 

One  of  the  important  factors  in  the  work  of  re- 
construction is  the  cooperation  of  the  public.  Al- 
though the  public  is  sympathetic,  its  sympathies  are 
often  misdirected,  because  it  has  not  made  a  proper 
study  of  the  conditions.  The  people  are  ready  with 
alms,  where  this  is  a  matter  which  should  be  elimi- 
nated as  much  as  possible.  If  thoughtful  considera- 
tion were  given  to  the  subject,  the  general  tendency 
would  be  to  make  the  cripple  a  useful  citizen.  The 
duty  of  a  bureau  for  advisement  and  placement  of  the 
disabled  soldier  and  sailor  is  to  institute  a  campaign 
of  public  education  <on  this  very  important  subject. 

Another  matter  for  serious  consideration  would  be 
that  of  establishing  a  research  department  for  the  pur- 
pose of  studying  the  work  which  has  been  done  by 
other  institutions.  Such  a  department  could  become 
very  helpful  in  bringing  before  the  bureau  the  good 
points  which  have  been  brought  out  by  other  orga- 
nizations and  which  have  been  found  useful  for  adop- 
tion. It  would  also  bring  to  light  the  mistakes  which 
have  been  made  and  which  should  be  guarded  against. 
The  results  of  the  investigations  of  this  department 
should  prove  of  great  economical  as  well  as  practical 
value. 


11 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
or  on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  Renewals  only: 

Tel.  No.  642-3405 

Renewals  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  date  due. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


^" 


873, 


REC'DLD   FEB      673-ifiA. 


LD21A-40m-3,'72 
(Q11738lO)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gay  lord  Bros. 

Makers 
Stockton,  Calif. 

PAT.  JAN.  21,  1908 


612938 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


. 


